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Spiritual Illumination

On the phone, in between his duties at Schofield Army Barracks in Hawaii, Sergeant Logan Laituri tells me he wants to "live radically for Christ." Normally I stumble over that sort of fervor – couched, as it is, in terms I would usually consider vague and cliche – but if following Jesus means telling your captain that 9/11 didn't absolve you of the need to love your enemies, I'll keep listening.

Many Christians are leaving the church out of frustration. Congregations are not just losing the expected ‘rebellious Christians’ who disagree with the core doctrines of Christianity, or a brother or sister that has fallen away. On the contrary, these congregations are losing leaders, devout in a faith in Jesus Christ, yet frustrated with the growing apathy that is creeping into so many churches.

Financial support for Christian workers is not just an issue for discussion at elders meetings... Every believer must realise their God-given privilege and responsibility to support full-time and part-time Christian workers. It’s an issue of righteousness, and it has inevitable and far-reaching implications for God’s people everywhere — and indeed, the entire Christian cause on earth.

The Australian Pentecostal movement today seems to me to be facing a similar problem to that of the Methodists a hundred years ago. Methodism had departed from its early Wesleyan roots and was becoming more respectable. It had ministry training colleges, buildings, schools and impressive publications... and there were those who cried for a return to the old ways and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to have a biblical world-view? Most Christians would say that they understand the importance of having a biblical world view. However, most Christians who have been raised in a western culture do not realise that their world-view also includes many of the philosophies that have shaped western civilisation for centuries.

Forgiveness is at the very heart of the Christian message. Without the doctrine of forgiveness there would be no good news, no eternal hope, no amazing grace and no Christian faith! Of course forgiveness is always good news when we are on the receiving end - when we are the one’s whose sins are forgiven. But what about when we are required to extend forgiveness to others? When we are the ones who have been hurt and injured?

In my heart I have felt betrayed by God... like he called us out on a limb to take steps of faith, only to abandon us and let us fall, to feel the pain of isolation and the loneliness of defeat. God has been silent, and as one who has known the sound of His voice in the past and as one who understands that true life only comes from every word which proceeds from His mouth, that silence has been a burden too heavy to bear. But after a long silence, last night God showed up...

You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to trace the origins of the Prosperity Gospel to the United States, where advantageous tax laws for religious institutions and a prosperous economy has been favourable soil for the growth of rich religion.